Author: Precilla Mashaba

The South African National Research Network (SANReN) team hosted its 9^th Cyber Security Challenge (CSC) competition during the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) National Conference at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town, Western Cape, from 30 November to 3 December 2025. The competition is aimed at students from Southern African tertiary education institutions with a passion for and interest in cybersecurity. The purpose of the CSC competition is to grow the next generation of cybersecurity specialists.

• Qualification round: There were 850 students, comprising 240 teams, who competed for a place in the final round.
• Final round: 10 teams were invited to participate in the final round. The 10 teams, comprising 40 students, competed over the course of the four-day event.

The following top 10 teams were invited to participate in the CSC 2025 finals based on their performance during the qualification round:

• 0xB3AN5S – University of Witwatersrand (Wits) – Engineering
• 3ncrypt3d – University of Witwatersrand (Wits) – Computer Science
• $whoami_ – University of Pretoria (UP) – Computer Science
• CyberHashers – University of Cape Town (UCT) – Computer Science
• N0T0R10S – Central University of Technology (CUT)
• Off by One – Rhodes University (RU)
• R3TR0SPECT – North West University (NWU)
• Team FAVN – University of Cape Town (UCT) – Engineering
• The3xploits – University of Western Cape (UWC)
• Vanguards – Durban University of Technology (DUT)

The competition came to a successful conclusion on 3 December 2025, and the winning teams were announced during the Awards Ceremony hosted at Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town.

The CSC 2025 winners were:

• First Place: The3xploits – University of the Western Cape
• Second place: 0xB3AN5S – University of Witwatersrand (Eng)
• Third Place: N0T0R10S – Central University of Technology

Winners of the Sponsored Challenges:

• API Challenge (sponsored by Orange Cyberdefense) was 3ncrypt3d – University of Witwatersrand (CS)
• MATLAB Classification Challenge (sponsored by MathWorks and Opti-Num Solutions) was The3xploits – University of the Western Cape
• Wizard Challenge (sponsored by MWR Cybersec) was 0xB3AN5S – University of Witwatersrand (Eng)

As a sponsor for the SANReN CSC 2025 Competition, ISPA awarded one educational sponsorship to a promising young CSC participant to achieve their ambitions of working in the ICT industry. However, the panel decided to jointly award the bursary at the CSC 2025 final. The recipients of the ISPA Inspires Educational Sponsorship were thus:

• Thabo Dladla from the University of Cape Town (CS), who will be continuing with his BSc Computer Science degree in 2026.
• Dean Feldman from the University of Witwatersrand (CS), who will be continuing with his BSc Computer Science degree in 2026.

The winner of the SANReN Attack and Defend challenge was The3xploits – University of the Western Cape

Best Female Participant at the CSC 2025 Final was awarded to Lily de Melo from 0xB3AN5S – University of the Witwatersrand (Eng)

An honorary award was presented to Prof Brett van Niekerk from Durban University of Technology for his contribution to the SANReN CSC.

Much appreciation goes to our Cyber Security Challenge 2025 sponsors